Daily Archives: August 8, 2019

Today’s Takeaway

Bioenergy can help with climate change but food fears exist: UN

August 8, 2019
Category: Today's Takeaway

Bioenergy with carbon capture can help fight climate change but may threaten food crops: UN report. In related news: Cory Brooker’s climate change bill points to a massive reforestation effort; Michael Moore’s new documentary says alternative energy is not all its cracked up to be; and cap-and-trade is alive and well in Virginia. 

In Business/Finance news: closing Northern Pulp’s paper mill would cost Nova Scotia thousands of jobs; BC forms team to study mill closures, while delays in tenure transfer decision creates uncertainty. It’s a train wreck in slow motion, says Neil Godbout. Meanwhile: Conifex extends Mackenzie curtailment, and BC’s lumber production is down three-times the North American average.

Finally, when industry and endangered species clash, guess who wins?

Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor

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Business & Politics

When predictions come true

By Neil Godbout
The Prince George Citizen
August 7, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

The hollowing out of the B.C. Interior and the demise of small towns everywhere in the province… has been happening for nearly 30 years. It’s been a train wreck in slow motion that has been well studied, broadly predicted by chief foresters past and present and thoroughly anticipated by industry and governments. …The modernization of the forest industry has changed [everything] from surveying and logging to milling and manufacturing. …Those technological improvements have forced most small players out of the market, with only a handful of giant corporate players left dominating the majority of the industry’s output. …One tragic irony has been the ongoing softwood lumber dispute, with small, rural American lumber operations convinced they could survive if they could just stop those pesky Canadians dumping their cheap, government-subsidized lumber into the U.S. market. Those lumber regions … are undergoing the same upheaval being seen in the B.C. Interior.

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NDP’s Rav Kahlon says he’s up to dealing with B.C.’s forestry woes

By Nick England
The Vancouver Sun
August 7, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

B.C.’s new parliamentary secretary for forests says he is up to the challenge of helping repair a devastated industry. Ravi Kahlon, MLA for North Delta, was appointed to the position late last month. He joins Forests Minister Doug Donaldson and his deputy minister, John Allan, as they work to support the sector through layoffs, mill closures and curtailments. Timber companies continue to consolidate and close operations in the face of a dwindling allowable annual cut, following years of increased harvest because of the pine-beetle epidemic. …Kahlon joins a team which includes Larry Pedersen, B.C.’s chief forester from 1994 to 2004, who the province has contracted to evaluate the affect of mill closures and provide advice regarding tenure sales that may arise under Bill 22. …The bill, enacted in May, requires forest firms to obtain government approval and consider public interest before transferring cutting-rights agreements to another party.

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Fighting for B.C.’s mill workers and communities

By Ravi Kahlon, Parliamentary Secretary for Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development
Energetic City
August 7, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Ravi Kahlon

… it infuriates me that the previous government asked industry experts to write a detailed report on the scope of the problems facing the Interior forest industry in 2015 and then stuck it on a shelf and took no action to prepare for the inevitable impacts. Indeed, if government of the day had ensured that the forest industry invested in new products and technologies that would have eased the transition to a lower fibre supply when lumber prices were at an all-time high, things would have been much easier. But they didn’t and now we are forced to address these challenges as prices and timber supply declines. We are working hard to ensure that workers and communities are not left to fend for themselves as this long-predicted rationalization occurs. … It takes time to get the proper supports in place – and we are working hard to do that.

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Conifex Extends Temporary Curtailment at Mackenzie Operations in Q3

By Conifex Timber Inc.
Global Newswire
August 7, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

VANCOUVER, BC — Conifex Timber announced that it is extending the temporarily curtailment of its Mackenzie, BC sawmill operations for three weeks until September 3, 2019, due to continued high log costs and lumber market conditions. “We regret the impact that the curtailment will have on our employees and the community,” said Kenneth Shields, CEO.  “We are exploring initiatives with the Ministry of Forests… the District of Mackenzie, and other stakeholders to help enable us to sustain operations through the remainder of 2019,” added Mr. Shields. The temporary curtailment… is expected to reduce Conifex’s British Columbia lumber output by approximately 25 million board feet in the third quarter. 

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Community of Vavenby makes plans to recover from mill closure

By Nick Eagland
Vancouver Sun
August 7, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Ric Slaco

CLEARWATER — …Bill 22, which passed in May, requires forest companies to obtain approval from the forestry minister before transferring tenure agreements to another party. …The Vavenby tenure sale proposal is the first application of the new legislation. …Ric Slaco, vice-president and chief forester at Interfor, said it is important his firm secures the tenure to support workers at its Adams Lake mill and the surrounding community, about 120 kilometres to the southeast of Vavenby. …Slaco said Interfor has been in touch with all of Canfor contractors in Clearwater and Vavenby. Those with replaceable licenses will automatically be transferred to Interfor when the tenure is transferred. …But Slaco said the delay in the Bill 22 process is creating uncertainty, and Interfor recognizes that is causing hardship for contractors. “We’ve got a plan in place, we’d like to get going. But until the tenure gets transferred we’re in limbo,” he said.

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Closing N.S. pulp mill would cost 2,700 jobs, decimate forestry industry: union

The Canadian Press in the North Shore News
August 7, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

Jerry Dias

HALIFAX — A union-funded study is painting a bleak picture of a decimated Nova Scotia forestry industry and the rapid disappearance of 2,700 jobs if the Northern Pulp paper mill is closed. “It’s an integrated industry. One closure impacts the entire food chain,” said Jerry Dias, president of Unifor. …Paper Excellence, is facing a January 2020 deadline under provincial legislation to shut down a treatment facility that sends effluent into the Boat Harbour lagoon near a Mi’kmaq community. However, the company says it may close if its plan to treat and pipe 85 million litres of effluent daily into the Northumberland Strait isn’t approved. …Raymond Plourde, wilderness co-ordinator with the Ecology Action Centre, said the economic pain of a mill shutdown has to be weighed against the risks to the fisheries, tourism and the environment. …Still, Dias argued it’s time for the province to proceed with the pipeline.

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A billion-dollar investment would be needed to offset loss of Northern Pulp: Study

By Unifor
Cision Newswire
August 7, 2019
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

HALIFAX – Unifor National President Jerry Dias spoke with reporters Wednesday morning to outline the harsh economic impact on Nova Scotia if the Northern Pulp mill closes. “We all know Boat Harbour must close. Our job now is to find a way forward that accomplishes that and supports not just the 230 Unifor jobs at Northern Pulp, but the 2,700 full-time jobs in Nova Scotia that rely on that mill,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “The reality is, good-paying jobs in rural Nova Scotia aren’t easy to come by and this study outlines just how much the province stands to lose if we let the mill close.” The study was commissioned by Unifor and completed by Halifax-based firm Gardner Pinfold. “The closure of Northern Pulp would cause economic hardship for hundreds of families in rural Nova Scotia.” said Bob Fraser, President, Gardner Pinfold.

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Finance & Economics

North American lumber production down 4.6% through May

Random Lengths
August 7, 2019
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, United States

North American lumber production was down 4.6% through the first five months of 2019 compared to the same period a year ago. …U.S. output totaled 14.647 bbf through May, down 1.1% from the first five months a year ago. Production in the West was down 1.6% to 6.067 bbf, while output in the South was down 0.7% to 7.892 bbf. Canadian production totaled 10.829 bbf through May, down 9.0%. Output in B.C. dropped 16.5% to 4.503 bbf, while production East of the Rockies fell 2.7% to 6.325 bbf.

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Taiga’s Q2 sales decreased 16% due to lower commodity prices

By Taiga Building Products Ltd.
Cision Newswire
August 8, 2019
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, Canada West

BURNABY, BC – Taiga Building Products Ltd. reported its financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2019. Consolidated net sales for the quarter were $354.7 million compared to $422.9 million over the same period last year. The decrease in sales by $68.2 million was largely due to decreased selling prices for commodity products.

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Armstrong Flooring sales down in second quarter

Armstrong Flooring Inc.
Business Wire
August 6, 2019
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States

In the second quarter of 2019, Armstrong Florring’s net sales decreased 11.7% to $177.7 million from $201.2 million in the second quarter of 2018. Net income in the second quarter of 2019 was $14.7 million and second quarter 2019 adjusted EBITDA was $20.0 million, as compared to $20.7 million in the prior year quarter.

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Rayonier Advanced Materials Reports Second Quarter 2019 Results

Rayonier Advanced Materials
August 7, 2019
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: United States, US East

Rayonier Advanced Materials reported second quarter 2019 net loss of $15 million compared to net income of $54 million for the same prior year quarter ended 2018. Year-to-date net loss was $37 million compared to net income of $78 million. The prior year income included a $15 million gain associated with the acquisition of Tembec Inc.

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German softwood log exports up 74 % in first quarter

EUWID Wood Products and Panels
August 7, 2019
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: International

The surplus supply of softwood logs from clearance storm and drought damage as well as bark-beetle infestation left clear marks on Germany’s foreign trade figures in the first quarter. A total of 1.183m m³ of softwood logs were exported in the first three months, 74.4 % more than in the same quarter of last year. …Conversely, the softwood log imports decreased for both ranges of assortments.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

Critics pan glass buildings as developer envisions world’s tallest wooden tower in Vancouver

By Joanne Lee-Young
Vancouver Sun
August 7, 2019
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

Vancouver, the City of Glass, known for its tall condo towers and their walls of floor-to-ceiling windows, is being asked to reassess its namesake form of building. …In cities as diverse as London and New York, there is a discussion over whether all-glass buildings should be banned because they tend to trap heat and light. …“We have said before that ‘wood is good,” said Andy Yan, director of The City Program at Simon Fraser University. Yan pointed to a recent B.C. Hydro report that said newer highrise buildings use twice as much electricity as those constructed in the 1980s. …Vancouver developer Bruce Langereis has been talking for some time about his vision for the world’s tallest wood tower on the city’s west side… However, perhaps there could be a shift in thinking about development policies to encourage tall-wood construction, which so far, has been considered innovative and expensive, says Langereis.

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Project has international appeal

By Kirk Penton
The Okanagan Edge
August 6, 2019
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: Canada, Canada West

KELOWNA, BC — Canada has long been a leader in the wood building industry, so Asian countries often look to the Great White North to learn more about it. That is why 20 South Korean architects, buildings and designers were in Kelowna last month to check out Innocept’s St. Paul project, which is under construction at the corner of St. Paul Street and Clement Avenue. It is a six-storey, wood-frame building. The group was visiting B.C. as part of the Canadian Wood Council’s Wood WORKS! program, which supports a wood culture by connecting individuals, sharing best practices and celebrating innovative successes. “Our project was right at the particular moment …so they were able to examine and look at how Canada puts together mass wood frame structures,” Innocept manager Justin Pasutto said.

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Masterclass: Cross-laminated timber and fire safety

By Greg Pitcher
The Architects’ Journal
August 8, 2019
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

The AJ and James Hardie recently hosted a talk on fire safety. …Anthony Thistleton… is a fierce ambassador for the environmental and fire-safety benefits of modern timber construction. …Thistleton says more could be done to shift public and political opinion towards timber-framed buildings. A demonstration project in which a mock residential tower was built with a cross-laminated timber or glulam frame, loaded with the fire risks of modern life and then ignited, would go a long way to proving just how safe the material is, he says. …Fellow panellist Kelly Harrison, an associate structural engineer at Heyne Tillett Steel, adds that experiments across the Atlantic had shown just how safe timber frames are. …The third panellist, Geoff Wilkinson, says a lack of confidence persists in the fire performance of CLT. …Thistleton responds.

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Forestry

Summer program helps Indigenous youth gain work experience

By Mark Nielsen
The Prince George Citizen
August 7, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Pauline Tom is thanking the Outland Youth Employment Program aimed at Indigenous youth for not only teaching her some of the skills to make her a productive member of the workforce but for getting her out of bed in the morning. …A member of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation, Tom is among 25 high school-age young people from across the Central Interior participating in the six-week program. …For the first two weeks, they were out in the bush where they honed their skills as tree planters and did brush saw work and while also learning wilderness first aid. This week, they’re in Prince George where they’re exploring post-secondary opportunities at the College of New Caledonia and the University of Northern British Columbia. …The idea is to help young people develop skills for natural resource-based work culture including safety training, time management, remote and rotational work schedules and work-life balance. There is also a touch of Indigenous culture in the mix.

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When Industry and Endangered Species Clash, Guess Who Wins?

By Shaun Fluker, University of Calgary, Faculty of Law
The Tyee
August 7, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Widespread species decline at the hands of humans is a powerful tale. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, more than 27 per cent of 100,000 assessed species are threatened with extinction. This disappearance is a warning that something is amiss on Earth. The Anthropocene is the newly recognized geological epoch defined as widespread environmental change or crisis caused by human activity. Some predict history will remember it as the sixth mass extinction event on Earth. …The strongest legislation to protect species at risk in Canada is generally considered to be the federal Species at Risk Act. But describing SARA as “strong” is misleading. Studies show that species are less likely to be listed as threatened or endangered under SARA if they are the target of a commercial harvest. …Some provinces still have no dedicated legislation for the protection of species at risk. Alberta is one of the laggards. 

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Catalyst warns boaters on Cowichan Lake of navigational hazards

By Robert Barron
The Cowichan Valley Citizen
August 7, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Brian Houle

Catalyst is warning boaters on Cowichan Lake to operate their craft with “extreme caution” if plans to pump lake water over the weir and into the Cowichan River move forward. Water levels in Cowichan Lake are expected to drop by as much as 20 inches… and that could uncover unexpected navigational hazards in the lake. …Catalyst’s Crofton pulp mill, which depends on water from the Cowichan River to run its operations, is planning to begin pumping water over its weir in Lake Cowichan as of mid-August if the region doesn’t get sufficient rain over the next few weeks. The region is experiencing one of the worst droughts in decades and water basins in the region are only getting about two thirds of the water they used to get in spring and summer.

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Community forests avoid main Annual Allowable Cut pressures

By Blair McBride
Burns Lake Lakes District News
August 7, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, Canada West

Amid the difficulties facing forestry in northern British Columbia, community forests stand apart when it comes to their Annual Allowable Cuts (AACs). The AAC has been a source of anxiety for many people in the Burns Lake region since it became apparent that the new level for the Lakes Timber Supply Area (TSA) might significantly decrease. The current AAC, set in 2011 is 1.6 million cubic (cu) metres. Under the Forest Act the chief forester has to determine the AAC of the Lakes TSA every 10 years. In the case of community forests, like Chinook, its AAC is determined through a separate calculation. “It was pre-determined by the province when they awarded the license in 2016,” as Ken Nielsen, General Manager of the Chinook Community Forest told Lakes District News.

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Forestry project is about safety for citizens and responders

By Rocky Infanger, board president for Tri-County Firesafe Working Group
The Helena Independent Record
August 7, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US West

Rocky Infanger

The Tenmile Watershed and South Hills of Helena are critical areas to the health and safety of thousands of people who live in and around them. The recent decision by the Forest Service to reduce fuel and improve roads in the Tenmile-South Hills Project area is largely about life safety for citizens and first responders alike. The Tri-County FireSafe Working Group fully supports this project. Unfortunately the Forest Service is the subject of civil litigation by numerous groups seeking to halt this important project. We believe the project should be completed. The pine trees in the project area were ravaged by the mountain pine beetle epidemic in 2005/2006 killing 90% of the lodgepole and ponderosa pine trees over 5 inches in diameter. …The fire hazard of these areas is rated as extreme due to those fuels and the type of fires that burn in this area. 

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Plan targets protection of China’s natural forest

China.org
August 7, 2019
Category: Forestry
Region: International

China has unveiled a plan to protect and restore the country’s forests, with the aim of reaching a total area of 200 million hectares by 2035. According to the plan, released by the State Council recently, a mechanism for forest protection and restoration will be built for all of the country’s natural forests by 2020. By 2050, a fully functioning ecosystem will be complete, which will play a fundamental role in the country’s sustainable development goals. “The plan shows our principle of making environmental protection the priority and realizing a harmonious coexistence between nature and humans,” a top official from the National Forestry and Grassland Administration said in a recent interview. “It also shows China’s significant contribution to tackling world climate change and our confidence to build a beautiful China through ecological progress,” the official said.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Nations agree landmark UN climate report after marathon talks

The Associated Free Press in Phys.org
August 7, 2019
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, International

Negotiators from 195 countries on Wednesday finalized the most comprehensive scientific assessment yet of how the land we live off affects climate change, after marathon talks in Geneva. The land use report… is expected to spell out the stark choices facing a warming planet with a growing, hungry population. …A key sticking point during negotiations was the role of bioenergy… and to what extent such schemes should be rolled out to combat climate change. …With the world’s population expected to rise to 10 billion by mid-century, there are fears there is simply not enough land to both sustainably feed people and mitigate climate change. Sources close to the talks in Geneva said countries with large forest cover, including Canada, Brazil, Sweden and Norway, had pushed for a greater role for bioenergy in climate planning. …The final summary for policymakers will be made public on Thursday.

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Biomass North Forum to take place Sept 17-19

Northern Ontario Business
August 8, 2019
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada, Canada East

Biomass North Forum 2019 is taking place from September 17-19, 2019 at the Ottawa Conference & Event Centre in Ottawa, Ontario. This year’s Forum, themed “Connecting Canada’s Bioeconomy”, will connect the Canadian bioeconomy to intranational and international markets and opportunities. Provincial and territorial delegations from across Canada will showcase their regional opportunities. From bioenergy to advanced biochemicals and biocomposites, Canada’s regions are poised to build solutions with international partners. International delegations will bring their expertise, best practices, and mature technologies. With the impending EU ban on Single-Use Plastics and its shift toward a circular economy, European demand for Canadian biomass and bioeconomy innovations is growing.

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Cory Booker wants federal government to plant billions of trees

By CBS News
WCBI
August 8, 2019
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States

Cory Booker

In an effort to fight climate change, Cory Booker wants the U.S. government to plant billions of new trees.  The New Jersey senator released a climate change bill Thursday aimed at sequestering carbon emissions, reducing agriculture emissions through farm conservation practices, and restoring wetlands. It would also implement a “massive reforestation” effort by planting over four billion trees by 2030 on federal, state, tribal and non-governmental lands and 15 billion trees by 2050. Over 100 million of the new trees would be planted in low-income and minority neighborhoods, according to the bill, which Booker has dubbed the “Climate Stewardship Act of 2019.” The legislation comes as much of the massive Democratic presidential field prepares to descend on the Iowa State Fair. A senior Senate aide said the bill, which is endorsed by over 50 farmer, environmental and forestry organizations, is expected to cost $260 billion over ten years. 

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New Michael Moore-backed doc tackles alternative energy

By Lindsey Bahr
The Associated Press in the Victoria Times Colonist
August 7, 2019
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States

Michael Moore

LOS ANGELES — What if alternative energy isn’t all it’s cracked up to be? That’s the provocative question explored in the documentary “Planet of the Humans,” which is backed and promoted by filmmaker Michael Moore and directed by one of his longtime collaborators. …The film… is a low-budget but piercing examination of … the false promises of the environmental movement and why we’re still “addicted” to fossil fuels. …Director Jeff Gibbs was further disheartened when, in the film, he approaches people like Van Jones, Bill McKibben and a local Sierra Club leader, and asks them about their stance on biofuel and biomass. …He finds every one ill-prepared to comment on their stance about the biomass process, which the documentary says requires cutting down enormous numbers of trees to produce the woodchips that are converted into energy. Neither Jones nor McKibben responded to request for comment from The Associated Press.

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Despite legislative blocks, one form of carbon cap-and-trade is alive and well in Virginia

By Sarah Vogelsong
The Virginia Mercury
August 7, 2019
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: United States, US East

VIRGINIA — Carbon cap-and-trade ended with a whimper in Richmond this past springwhen Republican budget additions blocked the state from participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and Gov. Ralph Northam declined to issue a veto. But in southwestern Virginia, it’s business as usual. In the Appalachian Mountains that surround the Clinch River Valley, vast forests are quietly capturing carbon that is quantified for sale in California’s cap-and-trade market. Then, depending on the forest’s ownership, profits are plowed back into conservation efforts at home or, until recently, paid out to investors. …In southwestern Virginia… conservationists see the income that can be derived from carbon offsets as another way to diversify the region’s historically mining-dependent economy — although the extensive documentation and technical data required by California’s regulatory market often means that only the largest landowners participate.

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Bioenergy plantations could fight climate change—but threaten food crops, U.N. panel warns

By Erik Stokstad
Science Magazine
August 8, 2019
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

In the effort to keep the planet from reaching dangerous temperatures, a hybrid approach called BECCS (bioenergy with carbon capture and storage) has a seductive appeal. …Energy is generated even as CO2 is removed: an irresistible win-win. But this week, the United Nations’s climate panel sounded a warning about creating vast bioenergy plantations, which could jeopardize food production, water supplies, and land rights for poor farmers. “Our report is kind of a reality check,” says Lennart Olsson of Lund University in Sweden. …”There is no shortcut to climate change mitigation.” …”There is a role for BECCS, surely, but not at the scale the models are showing,” says Rob Bellamy, an environmental social scientist at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom.

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Forest Fires

There’s A Massive BC Forest Fire Threatening 200 Inmates At Oliver Prison

By Sarah Anderson
Narcity
August 7, 2019
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada, Canada West

Forest fires are scary enough, but imagine a forest fire coming right at you when you’re in prison. Right now the Eagle Bluffs B.C. forest fire is threatening over 200 inmates who live at the Okanagan Correctional Centre. An evacuation alert is in effect in Oliver, B.C., where the fire is burning just north of the town.  The Osoyoos Indian Band expanded their original evacuation alert on Tuesday to include the Senkulmen Business Park area, which is where the Okanagan Correctional Centre is located.  B.C. Corrections Communications Director Caroline McAndrews told Narcity on Wednesday that “the risk to evacuate is being monitored closely” and they have plans in place that would support any evacuations needed in response to risks like fires and floods.

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Wildfire in Okanagan Valley nearly triples in size to 6 sq. km, expected to keep growing

By Clare Hennig
CBC News
August 6, 2019
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada, Canada West

A wildfire in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley that has residents under an evacuation alert and dealing with air quality warnings is showing no signs of letting up. The Eagle Bluff wildfire, located between Okanagan Falls and Oliver, has grown to an estimated six square kilometres as of Tuesday night, according to the B.C. Wildfire Service. That’s nearly triple the size compared to Monday afternoon, when it was estimated at 2.25 square kilometres. “It’s burning in some pretty steep slopes and rocky terrain, so that’s definitely a bit of a challenge [to access],” said Nicole Bonnett, fire information officer for the Kamloops Fire Centre. “The heat is also a big factor.” …More than 200 properties are on evacuation alert and Environment Canada has issued a special air quality statement aimed at areas including Penticton, Summerland, Naramata, Keremeos, Oliver and Osoyoos.

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Growing wildfire on Colville Indian Reservation leads to evacuations, air-quality alerts

By Asia Fields and Christine Clarridge
The Seattle Times
August 7, 2019
Category: Forest Fires
Region: United States, US West

A spreading wildfire on the Colville Indian Reservation led to evacuations Wednesday and air quality in the region that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ranked among the worst in the nation. The Williams Flats fire had burned more than 25,000 acres and was 25% contained Wednesday afternoon. The fire grew significantly to the east and northeast over the day, leading officials to order residents of about 13 homes to immediately evacuate about 6 p.m. Residents of about 11 additional homes were told to be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice. Fire officials won’t have an update on the size of the fire until Thursday morning, but it’s expected to grow as far east as the Columbia River on Wednesday night, said fire spokeswoman Shannon Dunfee.

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Wild Fires in Siberia Is Choking Up Russia by Smoke

By Michael Adcock
The Ankeny Daily
August 7, 2019
Category: Forest Fires
Region: International

Large fires are a yearly ubiquity in Siberia. However, this summer, the smoke has enveloped a few of its largest cities, including Krasnoyarsk, and locals are offended at what they perceive as government inaction. Though authorities have now elevated efforts to place out the blazes, the burning area is continuing to expand. On Tuesday, Russia’s Aerial Forest Protection Service stated it’s battling 161 fires on 140,000 hectares of the forest. It has yielded on 295 fires over 2.4 million hectares of “remote or hard-to-reach territories” and merely is monitoring them from space, the service mentioned.

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